RADIOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANT EXTRACTS

Exposure to radiation has significantly increased during the past hundred years with the development and use of x-rays and radio-isotopes in medicine and through environmental pollution from nuclear weapons and power plants. Because radiation can induce mutagenic changes, interfere with the immune system, and lead to the development of cancers, agents that could protect the body from radiation effects would be of great benefit. In this study, aqueous extracts of saffron (Crocus sativus), scholar tree (Sophora japonica), and yarrow (Achillea nobilis) reduced mutagenic effects of gamma-radiation on albino Wistar rats. The most effective radioprotection and anti-mutagenic activity were demonstrated by the saffron extract, which reduced frequency of chromosomal aberrations in bone marrow cells (35.7% at 3 Gy; 17.1% at 5 Gy) and sperm cells (26.9% at 3 Gy; 16.4% at 5 Gy) and restored cell division. Radiation was applied in a gamma-ionization chamber at the Rkhund-20000 facility located at the Institute of Radiation Problems in Baku using an average power of 1.252 rad s^-1.